A tad off topic here for a moment but many AE’ers like to dabble in other apps and this one is a doosy. (How do you spell doosy?  Is it doosey?) Not that long ago BlackMagic Design let loose a free version of the DaVinci Resolve software (called DaVinci Resolve Lite) for color grading. Yes, it’s completely free though it was somewhat limited in its power, e.g. only two color correction nodes. However, version 8.1 released today (Download it here) now has unlimited nodes… and power windows… and tracking! This lite version has just about everything the lite or casual user could want.

Here’s the word from Blackmagic Design:

InterBEE 2011, Tokyo, Japan – November 16, 2011 – Blackmagic Design today announced DaVinci Resolve Lite 8.1, a new version of the free DaVinci Resolve that now includes unlimited color correction nodes.

Unlimited color correction nodes allow customers to use multiple color correctors for more complex and creative grading and is a dramatic boost in power over the previous version of DaVinci Resolve Lite that was limited to 2 nodes. Adding more than 2 color correction nodes was the top requested feature by DaVinci Resolve Lite colorists.

DaVinci Resolve will be demonstrated on the Blackmagic Design InterBEE booth.

To help promote the art of color correction, DaVinci Resolve Lite includes many powerful features found in the full version of DaVinci Resolve for an extremely powerful toolset that anyone can download free of charge.

DaVinci Resolve Lite includes all the same high quality processing of the full DaVinci Resolve, however limits projects to SD and HD resolutions, unlimited nodes using a single processing GPU and a single RED Rocket card. Stereoscopic 3D features, noise reduction, power mastering, remote grading and sharing projects with an external database server are features only offered in the full DaVinci Resolve so are not included in this free DaVinci Resolve Lite edition. Customers who want these features can simply upgrade to the full DaVinci Resolve Software for only US$995.

Even with the restrictions of the free DaVinci Resolve Lite, image quality is never limited, and customers can use the incredible image processing quality of DaVinci Resolve. In addition DaVinci Resolve Lite can still accept high resolution source footage in 2K, 4K and 5K from the latest digital cameras from RED and ARRI, so customers get a fantastic digital camera utility.

DaVinci Resolve Lite still includes high quality optical resizing, curve grading, XML import and export, 32 bit float processing, YRGB image processing, multi layer timelines, stabilization, window tracking, primary and secondary color correction, real time processing, capture and playback with deck control, compatibility with third party control panels and much more. With so many powerful features at absolutely no charge, customers will be able to experience the dramatic improvement to their work from using professional color correction.

“Thousands of colorists have downloaded and are using DaVinci Resolve Lite to help generate a revolution in visual design that’s dramatically improving the production values of the entire television industry!”, said Grant Petty, CEO, Blackmagic Design. “We are very excited to be able to offer this new enhanced version of DaVinci Resolve Lite, and we hope that many more people will be able to explore the art of color correction on their television production work”

Availability and Price

DaVinci Resolve Lite is available now and free of charge from the Blackmagic Design web site.

Last week Andrew Kramer showed us how to put Particular aside and shoot the real thing. This week you can download 15 free HD (720p) clips of what he shot. Included is a tutorial with some ideas on what to do with your new footage. Click here to download the clips and watch the tutorial!

Yowza! Nick Campbell just added a new preset for Trapcode Particular over at RedGiantPeople. Sign up and download it for free!

“Generate realistic textures such as Steel Plates, Bricks, Clouds, Granite, Wooden Planks, and Rock with the Boris Continuum Materials Unit! The textures are procedurally-generated to ensure smooth render at any scale. Each filter provides a variety of animation parameters including controls for the color, width, height, and other aspects of the material. Many of the filters let you add 3D detail to the material surface and include lighting controls. Apply the materials as realistic surfaces or use them as animated organic backgrounds. Each filter includes presets that make using the materials a point and click operation – even for complex animations.”

Click here to get it!

Stu Maschwitz has updated the free scripts which were included in his book DV Rebel’s Guide. This collection “creates a tool palette that turns After Effects into a full-featured onlining tool.” Watch the tutorial and head to Stu’s blog Prolost to download them for free.

Pond5 has 40 FREE stock items up for grabs now thru December 31st. The batch includes 12 HD video clips, 25 sound effects, 2 music tracks and 1 After Effects template. Click Here and start downloading!

Boston, MA – November 9, 2010 – Noise Industries, developer of visual effects tools for the post-production and broadcast markets, is pleased to announce that FxFactory development partner, idustrial revolution, has released a major update to its popular “freebie” slideshow generator, CoverFlux. The new CoverFlux 2 is completely re-written, bringing faster rendering and over 10 unique features to its “iTunes-style” image browsing effects. Powered by FxFactory, CoverFlux 2 is free for users of Apple® Final Cut Pro®, Final Cut Express®, Motion® and After Effects®.

CoverFlux 2 Highlights

• CoverFlux 2 is completely free, with no watermark when registered.
• With 10+ new features, users can now select the depth of the stack, the number, the angle, the depth of field of the display, add round corners, soft edges, traveling gloss to highlight edges, and more.
• Users can load, reorder and rename the files using the built in file browser.
• Added option to choose the auto-animation feature or manual keyframe control to jump forward or backwards to any image in the stack.
• CoverFlux 2 can work with native file sizes for pin sharp results.

Availability of CoverFlux 2
The CoverFlux 2 plug-in is offered as a free download via the Noise Industries and idustrial revolution websites. To download the freebie, please visit: http://www.idustrialrevolution.com/idrplugins/coverflux

Availability and Pricing of FxFactory
Adobe After Effects, Apple Final Cut Studio® and Apple Final Cut Express® users can also test drive hundreds of FxFactory plug-ins by downloading the free trial version of FxFactory from: http://www.noiseindustries.com/fxfactory.

Additional FxFactory plug-ins are available for free or commercially starting at a price point of $29.00 USD. FxFactory products can be purchased via the Noise Industries website or through select resellers.

About idustrial revolution
idustrial revolution Founder Peter Wiggins is a successful broadcast editor with more than 25-years of industry experience. His credits include work with the BBC, CBS, and CNN – covering everything from the Winter Olympics to working with Michael Jackson on a video for the World Music Awards. A well-known power user of Final Cut Pro, Peter has designed a number of popular Noise Industries FxFactory plug-ins based on his years of experience and passion to improve post-production workflows for broadcast designers everywhere. Under his guidance, idustrial revolution has produced and released the highly successful Volumetrix plug-in for Apple Final Cut Studio. For more information about idustrial revolution, please visit: http://www.idustrialrevolution.com.

About Noise Industries, LLC
Established in 2004, Boston, Massachusetts-based Noise Industries is an innovative developer of visual effects tools for the post-production and broadcast community. Their products are integrated with popular non-linear editing and compositing products from Apple and Adobe®. For more information about Noise Industries, please visit: http://www.noiseindustries.com.

Boris is giving away 500 copies of its Materials Unit… for FREE!

“Generate realistic textures such as Steel Plates, Bricks, Clouds, Granite, Wooden Planks, and Rock! The textures are procedurally-generated to ensure smooth render at any scale. Each filter provides a variety of animation parameters including controls for the color, width, height, and other aspects of the material. Many of the filters let you add 3D detail to the material surface and include lighting controls. Apply the materials as realistic surfaces or use them as animated organic backgrounds. Each filter includes presets that make using the materials a point and click operation – even for complex animations.”

This is unit is a $199 value. It works with CS3 thru CS5 on Mac and Windows. The news has been out for a little while so hurry and try to download now. Register and Download here.

— John Stanowski

In this video series you can see 40 tips, tricks, workflow suggestions, and more really cool stuff. Down you can find the description about this ‘event’.

‘After Effects has been around for over 17 years and with the recent release of CS5 it’s now up to version 10.  Every new release brings new features and some have received more attention than others.  This 5-part series looks at a selection of features that were in After Effects before CS5 but have been often overlooked.  A total of 40 tips, tricks, workflow suggestions and general reminders are given covering topics including layout, masking, painting, rendering and even using the interface.’

There are 3 videos up, so far. So check them out and enjoy with this gift.

You can Follow me on Twitter or visit my websites Cicerone Blog and Video Cicerone

Victor Hernandez

If you’re an enthusiastic person about scripts, like me, you should download it and play around with it. Maybe it can save a little time in your workflow, What do you think?

Below you can see a Demo of the script

You can download the script here

Bonus

No, this it isn’t all! There is one more!

ft-Filmic Contrast is another script that will give to your footage a filmic contrast look. It’s very easy to use because is a slider script based.

Download it here and rock with your After Effects!

You can Follow me on Twitter or visit my website Cicerone Blog

Victor Hernandez